“The Ballad of Curtis Loew,” from 1974’s Second Helping, tells the story of a boy who collects soda bottles to pay an old Black bluesman to play for him. The town thinks Curtis is worthless. The boy knows he’s the finest picker who ever lived. Curtis is fictional, but every musician has a Curtis: the unknown player on a porch who taught you more than any record. Mine taught me that the best musicians don’t need a stage. Through a Christian lens, the boy saw what God sees. The world looks at the outside. God looks at the heart, and sometimes a kid with a sack of bottles does too.
“For the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7
— JC
